Kimberly Kay Lechner

Kimberly Kay Lechner, age 47, of Temple died the evening of July 19, 2007 at the home near Temple of her sister and brother-in-law, Mitzi (nee Lechner) Laxton and Dennis Laxton. Also in attendance at her bedside—and with her throughout her lengthy periods of treatment—were her mother, Mildred, age 90, and her brother, E. Theodore Lechner. Services will be held at 11:00 AM, Tuesday, July 24 (with viewing at the church, 10:00 to 11:00 AM) at St. Paul Lutheran Church at The Grove with the Reverend John Heckman officiating. Visitation will be 6:00 – 7:30 PM Monday, July 23 at Scanio-Harper Funeral Home. A second service will be held at 11:00 AM, Thursday, July 26 at St. John Lutheran Church in Lawton, Oklahoma. A graveside service will be held at 2:00 PM Friday, July 27 at Highland Cemetery in Winfield, Kansas with the Reverend Richard Mayer officiating with arrangements through Becker Funeral Home in Lawton. Her body will be laid to rest near her father's and that of her uncle and baptismal sponsor, Theodore C. Otte, Jr. Kimberly Kay Lechner was born September 24, 1959, at Arkansas City, Kansas and baptized shortly thereafter at Redeemer Lutheran Church by her father, the late Reverend E. H. Lechner, pastor of the church. Kimberly had come into the world some 23 years after the birth of her sister, Mildred ("Mitzi"), nearly 18 years after that of her brother, E. Theodore. Her father and mother, Mildred (nee Otte) Lechner, were overjoyed to receive her, as a late-coming gift of God, into their family. In 1966 she moved with her father and mother to Lawton, Oklahoma, where her father served as pastor of St. John Lutheran Church until his death in 1983, when Kimberly was 23 years of age. She graduated a year early from Eisenhower High School in Lawton and enrolled as a student at Cameron University there, even while working part-time at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma as a civil service employee. Later, she worked full-time in civil service and attended university classes at night, graduating in 1991 with a B.A. degree in business administration, with many additional hours of work in languages, mathematics and music. She played the organ at St. John Lutheran Church and for Lutheran and Episcopal chapel services at Ft. Sill. She taught piano classes for children and adults and maintained for several years her own studio for teaching dance to small children, to whom she felt especially drawn, and perhaps because she had never chosen to marry. In 2003, Kimberly was diagnosed with colon cancer and received treatment at Scott & White Hospital until 2004. She attended St. Paul Lutheran Church at The Grove and occasionally played the organ for services there. In 2006 her cancer recurred and she was once again given extensive treatment at Scott & White. Memorials may be made to the Rev. E. H. Lechner Memorial Fund, St. John Lutheran Church, 7th and A, Lawton, OK 73501.